Reduced failure rate from 20% to 0.4%

A high-throughput automated NGS library prep workflow for proteomics was experiencing high failure rates and operational complexity in customer labs.

Key Issues:

• High consumable cost and plastic waste
• Frequent user interruptions and manual pipetting
• Automation crashes driven by lid handling failures
• Contamination risk during sample handling
• Limited on-instrument guidance and high training burden

The system was not failing in one place. It was failing across the workflow.

• Too many manual touchpoints in an automated process
• Deck layout that increased movement, flyover, and contamination risk
• Consumable complexity that added cost and operational burden
• Lid handling steps that created repeat automation failures
• Limited user guidance, increasing training burden and error risk

Led end-to-end workflow and consumables optimization across teams (assay, automation, software, and field) to improve cost, robustness, and usability.

• Redesigned the end-to-end workflow across automation, consumables, and user interaction
• Optimized deck layout to reduce movement, flyover, and contamination risk
• Validated consumable reuse and consolidated redundant components
• Eliminated lid handling steps driving automation failures
• Implemented guided UI prompts to reduce training burden and user error

• Improved workflow robustness and reliability in customer labs
• Reduced training burden and user error
• Failure rate reduced from 20% to 0.4%
• Consumables reduced by 40%
• Manual pipetting reduced by 64%

The improvements did not come from optimizing a single step. They came from redesigning the workflow as a system across automation, consumables, and user interaction.

By reducing manual interventions, simplifying deck design, and removing failure-prone handling steps, the workflow became more robust in real lab environments while also reducing cost and support burden.